The Guru Report: 10th-Ranked Villanova Advances to NCAA Round Two As Siegrist Gains Three More Records

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

VILLANOVA – Asked, following his team’s 76-59 defeat by 10^th-ranked Villanova here at the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion in an NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Greenville 2 first-round opener Saturday night, what advice would he give other teams getting ready to play the Wildcats and defending superstar senior all-American Maddy Siegrist, Cleveland State coach Chris Kielsmeier smiled, saying, “Stay at the hotel?”

 

For coach Denise Dillon’s squad, it was just another day at the office.

 

“I feel everybody played their role nicely today,” Dillon said. “They took responsibility on the floor, and it allows us to play Monday night.”

 

The ‘Cats (29-6), who tied a season record with the 1982 AIAW Final Four team for program wins, defended well, and Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer (28.9 ppg.), poured down 35 points, delighting a near-sellout crowd of 4,257, as she added two more milestones in the first half to her massive collection.

 

Midway in the second period, Siegrist’s 16^th point made her the fifth woman in NCAA Division I history to collect 1,000 points in a season. 

 

Before the quarter gave way to the halftime break, the native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., reached 20 points, tying former Washington star Kelsey Plum for most consecutive games at 35 scoring 20 or more points.

 

She’ll be able to bust that mark Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU when the 4-seed Wildcats play 12-seed Florida Gulf Coast here for the right to advance to the Sweet 16, which would be the second time in Villanova’s history.

 

The 2003 group advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, losing just short of the Final Four to Tennessee in Knoxville.

 

Florida Gulf Coast (33-3), the Atlantic Sun champions who seemingly keep being under-seeded by the NCAA tournament committee, advanced in the opener here upsetting surprise PAC-12 champion Washington State 74-63 to end the Cougars’ season at 23-11.

 

By the time Siegrist, the reigning two-time Big East player of the year, reached her first milestone, Villanova was ahead 34-16 and it obvious which way the outcome was headed.

 

“You can’t stop her,” Kielsmeier said. “Anyone who thinks they can is wasting too much time trying to throw too much at her because she’s that good. So we wanted to focus on the others.”

 

Siegrist’s most recent achievement with the 1,000 points Saturday wasn’t a stat she thought would be part of her accomplishments.

 

“I never thought it was an achievable goal,” Siegrist said afterwards. “I’m really glad we won the game. It’s better when you win and get the milestone.”

She’s now at 1,019 on the season, fourth on the all-time list and her career mark has climbed to 2,834 points.

 

On Villanova’s Big East trip to St. John’s near the end of the regular season, coach Joe Tartamella said of the long time Red Storm rivals, “They have Maddy and if some else is in double digits, you lose.” 

 

That held against the Vikings (30-5) with Bella Runyon, one of Villanova’s top defenders, scoring 13 points fueled by hitting three shots from deep. Siegrist also set a program record for scoring in an NCAA tournament game, eclipsing the legendary Shelly Pennefather, whose combined men's and women's Wildcats three-decades plus mark she eclipsed in January.

Lucy Olsen and Kaitlyn Orihel each scored nine points, Orihel's total supplied by three shots behind the arc.

 

Christina Dolce grabbed 16 rebounds.

 

“Dalce rebounded the heck out of the ball early,” Dillon said. “She just continued that to give us some extra possessions.”

 

Cleveland State, who won the Horizon League’s automatic qualifier, was led by Destiny Leo, who collected 25 points.

 

Kielsmeier said of his team, who upset No. 1 seed Green Bay in the Horizon title game, “We didn’t handle the moment quite as well as I had hoped.

 

“Villanova is really, really, good, very well coached, very experienced. You can tell they are on a mission. We’re a lot better basketball team than we showed today. You have to give Villanova credit for that.

 

“They are going to be a tough out in this tournament because they got so much experience and toughness that wins this time of year. They are a special team. They have got a special thing going here.”  

 

FGCU turned a tight game against the Cougars loose in the third period, outscoring Washington State 30-16.

 

“It just felt like we didn’t get a handle on how to guard them,” said Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge, a star on the Texas powerhouse teams in the mid-1980s. “I felt like we made enough mistakes in the first half. We didn’t guard them well enough to give ourselves a chance to win today.” 

 

“This isn’t a one off. They win 30 games a season and come into the NCAA Tournament under-seeded and ready to go. 

 

The winning Eagles got 24 points from Sha Carter, who was 10-for-13 from the field. Tishara Morehouse scored 16.

 

Washington State’s Tara Wallack scored 16 with 12 rebounds for a double-double, while Johanna Teder scored 11, and Bella Murekatete scored 10, but Cougars sensation Charlisse Leger-Walker from New Zealand was held to five points.

 

On the low seed issue, FGCU coach Karl Smesko said, “Some things are out of our control. We can’t control who will play us. We can ask everybody, but they’re entitled to say no. And who we do play, we have to play well and win and give ourselves an opportunity. 

 

   “A lot of times we have to win our conference tournament just to get an opportunity to be in this tournament,” he continued.

 

“We just have to make the most of it. Washington State, they’re a great team. They just won he PAC-12 championship. If we are indeed under seeded, it’s no fair to them either.

 

“Who knows? I’m not expecting any changes. So we’re just going to try to schedule the best we can, hopefully do well, and know when we get to the NCAA Tournament, we have a team that’s capable of winning.”

 

Saturday Highlights: Miami launched a 17-point second-half rally, tied for fifth on the NCAA Women’s Tournament comeback list to edge 8^th-seed Oklahoma State 61-60 with Haley Cavinder scoring 12 of her 16 points over the final two periods, including a foul shot with 8.9 seconds left in regulation.

 

The Cowgirls (21-16) had a chance at the buzzer, but Naomie Alnatas’ 10-foot runner rolled off the rim.

 

Anna Gret Asi had 16 points, including 12 from 4 deep shots for Oklahoma State while Taylen Collins grabbed 16 rebounds. 

 

Cavinder had eight rebounds and six assists for the Hurricanes (20-12), who will play 1-seed and second-ranked Indiana (28-3) on the Hoosiers’ court Monday in a Greenville 2 second round game.

 

For transfer Israeli Lior Garzon, who scored eight, the loss with Oklahoma State came on the same day her former Villanova team advanced in the same regional.

 

Second seed UConn (30-5), sixth in the final AP Poll, at home pounced on 15^th seed Vermont with a 95-52 victory, the 29^th straight first round triumph in Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s 38 -year career.

 

Aaliyah Edwards had a career-high 28 points playing the America East champion Catamounts (25-7), who had won 17 straight.

 

Dorka Juhasz had a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds.

 

On Monday UConn will meet 7^th seed Baylor, which rallied from an 18-point first quarter deficit to beat Alabama 78-74.

 

UConn and Villanova, the top two Big East teams are the remaining of the five that made the field.

 

It’s the first UConn meeting with the Bears since the Huskies eliminated them two seasons ago in a narrow two-point victory finish in the bubble format in San Antonio, Texas, that became Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey’s final game with Baylor (20-12) before moving to revive LSU’s fortunes.

 

Ja’Mee Asberry had 26 points for the Bears in their win over Alabama (20-11), the rally tying for third in tourney comebacks.

 

No. 11 seed St. John’s, the last bubble team taken, fell narrowly to sixth-seed North Carolina 61-59 in a Seattle Regional 3 game, Deja Kelly with a go-ahead trey with two seconds left in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Kelly had 18 points for the Tar Heels.

 

“We’re just glad to be out of here with a win,” said UNC coach Courtney Banghart.

 

“It stinks,” said Red Storm coach Joe Tartamella. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t make the last play that we needed to, and they did.”  

 

No. 12 Toledo (29-4) upset five-seed Iowa State 80-73 in Knoxville as Quinesha Lockett had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets in the Seattle Region 3.

 

They’ll face 4^th-seed host Tennessee Monday, the Vols advancing with a 95-50 win over 13^th-seed Saint Louis (17-18).

 

Fifth-seed Louisville just got by 12-seed Drake 83-81 in the Seattle 4 region.

 

Looking to Sunday: Having been a closing seconds slayer of North Carolina State on Friday, Ivy champ Princeton (24-5) will play No. 2 and host Utah (26-4) on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.

 

No. 8 seed South Florida (27-6) plays overall No. 1 seed, top-ranked and reigning NCAA champion South Carolina (33-0) in Columbia at 1 p.m. on ABC. 

 

Second-seed Maryland (26-6), the same as South Carolina, hosts 7^th-seed Arizona (22-9) at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.

 

Stanford (29-5), the top seed in Seattle Regional 4, hosts sixth-seed Ole Miss (24-8) at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN, while sixth-seed Michigan (23-9) is at No. 3 LSU (29-2) in Greenville Region 2 on ESPN at 7:30 p.m.

 

And that’s the report.